How to delete your existing iPhone/iPad backups and free up iCloud storage

posted by Peter K. / Jan 04, 2016, 1:26 AM

iCloud backups are undoubtedly a handy feature. Apart from keeping all of your settings, apps, and app data securely backed-up in the cloud, iCloud backups also make device migration as easy as pie. There's little not to like about iCloud backups and we are more than sure that the majority of iOS users are heavily relying on these to keep things safe.

However, in case you are regularly switching between iOS devices and making separate backups on each one without deleting the previous one, you will quickly run out of storage. This rings true especially for those iOS users that make have not upgraded their iCloud storage plan and get by with the default 5 gigs of storage, which usually go away pretty quickly if iOS fans have multiple backups and lots of media.

This is exactly what happened to us recently - migrating between various iOS devices led to the accumulation of one too many iCloud backups, which summoned the dreaded "low iCloud storage" error message. This was a wake-up call for us, and after a bit of digging we quickly identified the culprit. Or should we say culprits - after all, we were dealing with more backups than we could handle or let alone needed!

After a couple of easy steps we got rid of the undesirable backups and freed up some precious storage. Here's how you can do so, too!

How to get rid of old iCloud backups

First things first, head to the venerable Settings menu. Once inside, scroll down to the "iCloud" menu and tap on it.

Step #1

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Once inside, look for the Storage tab. Apart from showing you your available storage, this menu will allow you to manage your storage. To proceed, tap on it.

Step #2

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As you can see the Storage menu provides you with insight on your total and available data. Tap on the "Manage Storage" option to proceed.

Step #3

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At the top, you will see the amount of space you iCloud Photo Library is occupying, while right beneath it all of your backups will reside In our case, there are merely two, each taking up roughly 300MB of storage. You don't want to get rid of the current backup of your device (indicated by the "This iPhone" subtitle). We will delete the top one instead; to do so, simply tap on it to proceed.

Step #4

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In this menu, tap on the "Delete Backup" option in order to get rid of the backup in question.

Step #5

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This is it, the undesirable backup is gone and have freed up some precious cloud storage that can be used in a better way in the future.

Step #6

How to get rid of old iCloud backups

First things first, head to the venerable Settings menu. Once inside, scroll down to the "iCloud" menu and tap on it.